The present invention relates to a method of processing a picture signal for conveyance by means of a transmission path or storage medium, said method comprising the steps of:
i) producing a picture signal which corresponds to a picture, PA1 ii) subjecting said picture signal to a segmentation algorithm to produce a region signal which identifies edges and closed regions in said picture, PA1 iii) producing a texture signal which corresponds to the difference between said picture signal and said region signal. PA1 i) producing a picture signal which corresponds to a picture, PA1 ii) subjecting said picture signal to a segmentation algorithm to produce a region signal which identifies edges and closed regions in said picture, PA1 iii) producing a texture signal which corresponds to the difference between said picture signal and said region signal, PA1 iv) producing an edge map signal form said region signal, PA1 v) successively scanning the elements of said edge map signal by means of a template corresponding to a fixed group of adjacent elements in a given configuration, PA1 vi) determining the content of said fixed group of elements for each part of said successive scanning, and PA1 vii) predicting from each content determination the value of an additional element in a given position adjacent to but outside said fixed group of elements. PA1 i) receiving said region related component and producing a region signal therefrom, PA1 ii) receiving said texture related component and producing a texture signal therefrom, PA1 iii) combining said region signal and said texture signal to reproduce said picture signal, PA1 iv) reproducing from said region related component an edge map signal, PA1 v) successively scanning the elements of said edge map signal by means of a template corresponding to a fixed group of adjacent elements in a given configuration, PA1 vi) determining the content of said fixed group of elements for each part of said successive scanning, PA1 vii) predicting from each content determination the value of an additional element in a given position adjacent to but outside said fixed group of elements, PA1 viii) reconstructing an edge map from the predicted values where no error is indicated by said region related component and from corrected values where the predicted values are in error under the control of said region related component, and PA1 ix) forming said region signal from said reconstructed edge map.
The invention also relates to a method of recovering such a picture signal and apparatus for use with the above methods.